Can I get a sketch from a Disney Artist?

Two years ago when I went to Disneyland's California Adventure Park, I visited an animation store.

There, they had a working Disney Animator who would draw sketches from pre-designed images of Disney characters.

You could buy the sketch, and then get a nice wooden Disney frame to go with it.

Does anyone know if this is available at Disney's Hollywood Studios somewhere? I'm sure they have plenty of animation cels, but I'm not sure if they will have a live Disney animator available to do sketches.

Quick point of clarification. The sketches are done by Disney artists, not Disney animators, especially with the Florida animation unit closed down (I believe the DCA sketches are also done by artists as opposed to animators). I've purchased two sketches at DHS. The first was in 2006, and the second was a special Star Wars Weekends sketch last year. Limited personalization was available for both, though I opted against it on the 2006 sketch.

Quick point of clarification. The sketches are done by Disney artists, not Disney animators, especially with the Florida animation unit closed down (I believe the DCA sketches are also done by artists as opposed to animators). I've purchased two sketches at DHS. The first was in 2006, and the second was a special Star Wars Weekends sketch last year. Limited personalization was available for both, though I opted against it on the 2006 sketch.

Thanks for the clarification and feedback!

With regards to your point, I do believe in 2008 the artist at DCA was introduced as a 'real Disney animator', but I could be confusing her with the host of the 'Sketch with a Disney Animator' attraction which was next-door to the store.

I did not know you could get sketches from a live Disney artist in Downtown Disney. I will make sure to check it out! I think I missed the Art of Disney store altogether when I was there in 2008. I only went to the World of Disney store.

There are Disney sketch artists who can draw quite a bit of different things for you. They are located in Sunset Club Couture and the Animation Gallery shops and you can stop by and look at the sketches they have made or have sometime customized for you. They're very nice and they can make some great keepsakes! The sketches are also relatively cheap, around $35-40.

There are Disney sketch artists who can draw quite a bit of different things for you. They are located in Sunset Club Couture and the Animation Gallery shops and you can stop by and look at the sketches they have made or have sometime customized for you. They're very nice and they can make some great keepsakes! The sketches are also relatively cheap, around $35-40.

Thanks for the suggestions. Are those places located in DHS?

For clarification, I'm looking to get animation sketches of Disney characters, much like your avatar, QuickGold.

I already have a Cinderella, and would like to get a Giselle or Mulan or Ariel.

Some of the sketches are very similar to the one in Matt's avatar with background lines showing, while others are more cleaned up. It depends on each individual sketch. One of the more interesting sketches I've seen that really shows the process of animating a character is the Briar Rose sketch from Sleeping Beauty. It shows a lot of background lines underneath her clothes, which shows the attention to detail that makes the characters move right onscreen.

As for the characters you're looking for, I know they have Ariel and I'd be shocked if they didn't have Mulan, especially since that movie was made at DHS back when it was a working animation studio. To the best of my knowledge they don't have Giselle. I also think that DHS only has one color per sketch whereas DCA allows guests to choose two colors.

Some of the sketches are very similar to the one in Matt's avatar with background lines showing, while others are more cleaned up. It depends on each individual sketch. One of the more interesting sketches I've seen that really shows the process of animating a character is the Briar Rose sketch from Sleeping Beauty. It shows a lot of background lines underneath her clothes, which shows the attention to detail that makes the characters move right onscreen.

As for the characters you're looking for, I know they have Ariel and I'd be shocked if they didn't have Mulan, especially since that movie was made at DHS back when it was a working animation studio. To the best of my knowledge they don't have Giselle. I also think that DHS only has one color per sketch whereas DCA allows guests to choose two colors.

Thanks to all for the tips and advice.

I am here at WDW -- just arrived this afternoon -- and went by the Art of Disney store before having dinner at Wolfgang Puck's (surprisingly good!).

There are a number of predefined sketches here and I see the Briar Rose sketch that you were talking about. That is one of my favourites which is at the top of my want list now.

They had one Mulan sketch in the book, but two others that are pre-drawn. Each of the sketches seem to have one colour associated with it as well. They all seem to have pixie dust streams added to them as well.

The one I already have is of Cinderella, but looks like a simple pencil sketch with lots of construction lines. Many of the ones in Downtown Disney are more finished pieces with one colour added in.

I did also learn from them that there are three other Disney Artist stations in the parks -- one in Magic Kingdom in Mainstreet USA, one in Epcot, and of course one in Disney Hollywood Studios.

I plan to visit all three of them to see how the sketches vary from location to location.

Unfortunately, they did not have any authorized Giselle images. They did have Mulan, and Ariel, but not as many poses as I would've guessed. Maybe only four or five Ariel poses. I think I see more variations at the dollar store for Ariel!

I've had some opportunities to see Disney animators making sketches. It's so neat to watch. One of my friends is a former Disney animator (he worked on Sleeping Beauty, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and The Little Mermaid TV series) and I've seen him do it a couple of times and then in December I got to see a current animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation sketch Ray from The Princess and the Frog during the Ultimate Disney Experience at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank in December. It's so cool to watch, and the process is essentially the same to what we see from the in park artists.

I'm curious to see how much if any sketch variety there is between the locations. I know that one of the sketches I purchased at WDW can also be purchased at Off the Page in DCA since I've seen it in both locations. I'm thinking that the two coasts have almost identical sketch options except for special events such as Star Wars Weekends. I did get a sweet Jedi Mickey sketch a couple of years ago at DCA and then picked up the Mickey and Yoda sketch at SWW last year. It was hard not to get more of the Disney/Star Wars character sketches.

I actually purchased the Briar Rose sketch in DCA last month. I think what makes it so great is how it shows the process of animating a character. The other Aurora sketches Disney has are very much "completed," while this one is more work in progress. Seeing the "construction lines" of her arms and legs really shows how much Disney animators did their homework in creating the characters. The end result is beautiful and I love how the artist used the two colors (standard option at DCA) to really make it pop. I'd love to see WDW add the 2nd color option. The price is the same at DCA and WDW.

I've wound up with a small collection of these sketches. Like Matt said, they're a great way to personalize a vacation memento and they can also make great gifts. If your timing works out, you may be able to watch the sketch artist work on your sketch. I've done that a couple of times and it's always fascinating for me to see the process of creating these sketches.

I also know someone who was a Disney animator (POCAHONTAS, MULAN). It is funny, but he would sketch anything BUT Disney now. He says that if I want him to do a Disney sketch, I would need to give him references because the proportions for Disney are very exact. Maybe he is a perfectionist.

I flipped through the sketch options last night a DTD. I was at DCA two years ago when I bought Cinderella. I saw the same sketch last night in the list of approved sketches, however, as I mentioned, there are some pre-done sketches which were not from the sketch list.

I actually prefer to have pencil-only with full construction lines as it looks more like a work-in-progress as opposed to a finished piece.

I'll be taking a look through the parks over the next week to see what options I have, and whether or not other sketches are available.

I also really like the special picture frame the park. I'm thinking of buying an extra one, and asking my friend to do a Giselle if I can't find someone to do a Giselle here at the park.

By the way, I was looking through the various completed sketches last night at DTD. On the drawing board was Gene, who was very good. There appear to be some large variations in the actual drawing depending on the artist. There were many sketches that were not as good as Gene's, but you have to take a look carefully. On the surface, they might both appear to be the same Tinkerbell sketch, but when you look closer, you can see blatant differences, so they are absolutely not the same, even within the same location.

Thanks for the comments. They look great along the wall of the playroom now, and when the toys eventually move out, the pictures will stay.

The Giselle piece was a special request as she is no longer listed in the official sketch book. In fact, there was no merchandise of her anywhere that I could find in all of the parks.

I do know someone who worked as a Disney Animator (MULAN, POCAHONTAS, etc) and he did the Giselle sketch for me. It is actually much larger (11 x 14") than the others but I plan to make a downsized copy of it to frame with the others.

It was funny how some artists I met were very strict about their style and would not accommodate my request for using a single colour and keeping the construction lines visible. One artist told me, "That just ain't my style.", but oh well. I guess he just likes to sketch with two colours and two colours only.

I did end up meeting David Mitchell, who works at the Magic Kingdom, and I really liked his work. If you look closely, all the sketches differ and some of them, depending on the artist, don't get the facial features exactly right or looking like the original work, in my opinion.

David's pieces were bang-on. His Ariel has a sweet, innocent face, and his Herc looks exactly like he looks in the movie. I ended up requesting all three sketches from him. He was a really nice guy too. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, I did not meet up with the guys from DHS. It was a rainy day, and we spent our time ducking from one attraction to the other. By the time we made it to The Art of Disney, they had all but packed up.

I think going to all of The Art of Disney stores is one of my favourite things to do while in the parks!